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iFi Zen Air Blue bluetooth/DAC in the house.

L

lightcapture

Super Member
I purchase a new source, an iFi Zen Air Blue bluetooth/DAC to stream from my Android phone.
I purchased mostly for playing 'Couleurs Jazz' radio app from France. It sounds fantastic in my tube system. CD quality broadcast, 44.1khz 16 bit using AptX bluetooth codec.
It's clear, dynamic, with a nice tight and punchy bass. Sound is slightly forward and a bit compressed, but generally I'm pretty impressed with the sound.
It may take a few weeks for the iFi Zen Air Blue to break in.
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I don't mean this in a negative sense. What made you go Bluetooth instead of a WIFI device you could cast to with your phone? Or one that could do both WIFI and Bluetooth? Will you use it away from a WIFI network? Or for security? I have a Bluetooth receiver device. But I'm not really into them, or expert. Casting doesn't tie up phone from doing other functions.
 
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My local FM radio does not play Jazz only Blues and Classical that I enjoy. The iFi Bt/DAC is a simple and inexpensive solution to meet my need to listen to Couleurs Jazz. And it sounds great...CD quality, not FM quality sound!
 
I listen to internet jazz stations, usually by WIFI Chromecast Audio.. Toslink to DAC. RCAs to amp.

As you say, if it sounds good. It's a win. Many ways to get a jazz fix. All good.

You might try these jazz stations on the net. Many have program schedules on thier sites:
WDCB, Chicago - mostly jazz, some blues, folk shows mixed in. No commercials
KSDS, San Diego - mostly straight ahead jazz, great. No commercials.
KCSM, San Fran Bay Area - great jazz. No commercials.
CJRT, Toronto - some commercials
WUCF, Orlando
WPKN, Bridgeport
WLRN, Miami

I use a Tune In app for streaming.

Of course there are dozens more jazz stations out there in US and Europe.
 
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Old Guy8 said:
I listen to internet jazz stations, usually by WIFI Chromecast Audio.. Toslink to DAC. RCAs to amp.

As you say, if it sounds good. It's a win. Many ways to get a jazz fix. All good.

You might try these jazz stations on the net. Many have program schedules on thier sites:
WDCB, Chicago - mostly jazz, some blues, folk shows mixed in. No commercials
KSDS, San Diego - mostly straight ahead jazz, great. No commercials.
KCSM, San Fran Bay Area - great jazz. No commercials.
CJRT, Toronto - some commercials
WUCF, Orlando
WPKN, Bridgeport
WLRN, Miami

I use a Tune In app for streaming.

Of course there are dozens more jazz stations out there in US and Europe.
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Thanks. I think I can get Tune In app at Play Store..
I'm from Chicago and listen to Jazz all the time there on local public broadcast.
Check out Linn Jazz, Linn Classical, and Linn Radio, all high quality sound on internet tuner.
And as I said earlier I like Couleurs Jazz from France.
 
I think I have Tune In Pro app. Believe it was a one time $10 cost to download. I don't see a charge for it now. It says there are ads. It don't notice many ads. I have on multiple Android phones, tablet and on a PC.
It keeps a line of my last maybe dozen stations icons, I've visited. Usually two clicks to change stations. Really convenient. Hope it meets your needs.
Not every station is on Tune In. But most I look for are. There were a jazz and a blues stations from Athens I couldn't locate on Tune In.

Thanks, I'm familiar with Linn stations. I have a 1983 Linn LP12 TT also.
 
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cpt_paranoia said:
AptX is a lossy codec. Whilst the sample rate and size might be the same as CD (as it is for MP3 and AAC), it is not 'CD quality'
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AptX and HDAC are supposed to be noticeably better than AAC and very poor MP3. In fact the Zen Air Blue can go as high as 96khz and 32bit if the source has it.
 
AptX is lossy. The bits you get our at the receiver are not the bits you put in at the transmitter.

There's no point sending 32 bit audio, especially over a limited bandwidth link. Your DAC cannot achieve much more than 20 bit SNR, so you would be wasting 37.5% of your BW on signal that will be lost in noise. The Bluetooth CODEC developers are smarter than that, so I doubt very much they will be trying to send 32 bits of audio samples.
 
cpt_paranoia said:
AptX is lossy. The bits you get our at the receiver are not the bits you put in at the transmitter.

There's no point sending 32 bit audio, especially over a limited bandwidth link. Your DAC cannot achieve much more than 20 bit SNR, so you would be wasting 37.5% of your BW on signal that will be lost in noise. The Bluetooth CODEC developers are smarter than that, so I doubt very much they will be trying to send 32 bits of audio samples.
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Who cares...it sounds better than my FM tuner and like a CD. That's all that matters. I haven't tied hi-res spotify. Now vinyl sounds better for sure.
 
totem said:
Evidently its not a concern of yours, but when others read some of your comments it certainly
muddies the waters and leads to confusion regarding Bluetooth's SQ.
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It gets a bad rap from the earlier implementations of it, but it's improved and the sound quality is very good using the right product and source.
What muddies the waters is some of the vintage crap people sing the praises of, and some of the cheap Chinese products out there that are inferior. To each his own.
 
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Interestingly Couleurs Jazz and Spotify apps came across the iFi bluetooth/DAC by LDAC codec at 32bit 96khz. I don't know if it was a setting in my Samsung A13 android phone or the iFi Air Blue is breaking in and recognized it. It's less constrained, more opened and refined sounding. I very pleased it's transfering higher resolution to my tube amp.
 
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I've heard a lot about iFi Audio's Zen Air series so cool to see the Zen Air Blue made your setup. Another cat talked about using it into a Zen CAN amp for a separate listening setup for guests in his recording studio to let them connect and stream reference tracks, check mixes, and have another listening endpoint accessible which I think is great as many studios you have to just ask the engineer to play something outside the session on their main set of speakers, their cpu/audio source, etc. Interesting applications of these devices.
 
F/F 9 months or so... I've had a 'Zen Blue V2' ( :thumbsup: ) for just over a year. What 'actual level' of sound quality is it? Couldn't tell ya, guys! Does it suit my needs to pull in services / stations from 'all over', ease them into my Sansui AU-719; and make them sound totally cool, to my ears? Yes, guys and gals, it certainly does.

Not currently subscribing to 'Amazon Music Unlimited', I stream: Radio Paradise :thumbsup:; Amazon Station Reggae; Amazon Psychedelic Rock; Jazz FM 91.1 (Toronto) :bowdown:; Classic FM (UK); Black Country Radio (UK, 'local' ~ Interpreter may be required ;) ). I pair the 'ZBV2' with a Mac Mini; an Amazon Echo 4; an iPhone; and a Motorola Defy Mini (now used as a dap only!), for much musical / audio-book fun and entertainment. Not to mention my separately playing (old and new) vinyl albums / 'LPs'.

I realise that the above would not suit many 'dyed-in-the-wool' audiophiles; but to each his/her own, wouldn't you say?
'Keep on Rockin'! :thumbsup:

Cheers, og
 
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I have been using a ifi zen bluetooth for about six months, I use the LDAC codec going optical to my McIntosh c47, and there is nothing compressed or lossy about it. I have posted about it on a few forums and the snobs always come out with the same criticism without even hearing it.
 
audiobliss said:
I have been using a ifi zen bluetooth for about six months, I use the LDAC codec going optical to my McIntosh c47, and there is nothing compressed or lossy about it. I have posted about it on a few forums and the snobs always come out with the same criticism without even hearing it.
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I don't see any snobbiness hear. Just folks pointing out that Bluetooth is lossy. So no matter what you send through it, it's going to be a bottleneck. I'm sure it can sound fine, but the fact that you're losing something in the transfer is technically true.

So, to have a really nice system, with a lot of time and money put into it, and feed it with Bluetooth, can seem counterproductive to some. Especially when there are other lossless methods that just as easily available.

I get it, Bluetooth is super convenient, but for me the fact that it's lossy and also that it ties up my phone make it a nonstarter.

Also, for what it's worth, Wiim can play lots of internet radio stations.
 
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